The military council has arrested 20 displaced people from Arakan State, including four women, on suspicion of having links to the Arakha Army (AA), according to a local from Yegyi Township in Ayeyarwady Region.
The detainees are individuals displaced by the fighting in Gwa, Thandwe, and Ann Townships in Arakan State.
According to local sources, on 9 March, junta soldiers and police arrested them in a village near the Phayagyi-Thabaung road in Yegyi Township, which connects Thabaung and Yegyi in Ayeyarwady Region.
“They were accused of being informants linked to the AA, and junta soldiers came to arrest them at the displacement site. They arrested 20 people, including women,” said the local from Yegyi.
Currently, they are being held at the Yekyi Myoma police station. They had been taking refuge in Mayancho and Phayagyi villages near the Phayagyi-Thabaung road due to the ongoing fighting in Arakan State.
On 22 January, junta soldiers from Artillery Battalion-344, based near Gwa-Ngathaingchaung, arrested three women and six men from Gwa and Ann Townships who had sought refuge in Myauksan village in Yegyi Township, on suspicion of having links to the AA.
In January this year, the military council also arrested and interrogated more than 50 displaced Arakan people in Kyonpyaw and Yegyi Townships in Ayeyarwady Region.
According to Arakanese IDPs, at least 100 displaced people who fled the fighting in Gwa, Thandwe, and Ann Townships in Arakan State have sought refuge in Ayeyarwady Region.
Sent by Narinjara